Spinning tool



Jan. 7, 1958 F. SCHACHTER ,828

SPINNING TOOL Filed May 7, 1956 F/v,e)c//' Swan r52 INVENTOR.

United States Patent SPINNING TOOL Friedrich Schachter, Goteborg,Sweden, assignor, by

mesne assignments, to Paper Mate Manufacturing Cumpany, Culver City,Calif., a corporation of Delaware Application May 7, 1956, Serial No.583,223

Claims. (Cl. 11332) This invention relates to an improved tool forspinning the wall of a recess formed in the nose piece of a writinginstrument to facilitate retention of a ball therein for universalrotation.

Writing instruments provided with ball tips comprise a nose piecegenerally having a conical external surface and an axially disposedrecess in the end of each nose piece, a ball being rotatably held insuch recess with a portion of its surface extending beyond the end ofthe nose piece. A suitable channel or passageway supplies ink to theenclosed surface of the ball from a cartridge or ink reservoir. As theball rotates during writing it carries the ink from its enclosed portionto the external position and applies the ink to the surface upon whichthe ball is moved. A very similar construction and mode of operation arealso employed when the ball is supplied with writing compositions otherthan ink.

Ordinarily the tip portion of the nose piece is swedged orforcedinwardly against the ball to retain it within the recess.Thereafter the tip is subjected to a spinning operation which apparentlywork hardens the metal wall of the recess causing it to spring away fromthe ball and thereby permit free universal rotation of the ball withinthe recess. The spinning operation must be carried out very accuratelyso as to retain the ball within its seat and still provide an adequateclearance for the ink or writing composition carried by the surface ofthe ball. The clearance should be uniform around the ball so as toinsure free rotatability of the ball. One method and apparatus forspinning a nose piece is described in a copending application filed byEmern S. Myers Serial No. 493,919. As there shown the spinning toolcomprises two discs, each mounted for free rotation about an axisdisplaced from the main axis of the chuck, such main axis beingcoincidental with the axis of the nose piece and recess. During spinningthe nose piece is maintained stationary and the rotating chuck causesthe spinning discs to apply a rolling pressure to the metal adjacent theend of such nose piece. It .will be appreciated that in view of the factthat the balls themselves have a diameter of approximately 0.03 inch,the entire tool is very small and delicate, extremely fine bearingsbeing required toinsure free rotation of the spinning discs.

Generally stated, a spinning tool according to the invention comprises achuck adapted for rotation about its axis and carrying eccentrically inits face a spinning disc and a concentric spinning ring, the disc andring being mounted for rotation relative to the chuck and to each other.The spinning disc and ring are each provided with coadjacent Spinningedges or surfaces lying in a common plane transverse to the axis ofrotation of the chuck, the spinning surface of the disc being convex, inplan, and that of the ring concave. The spinning disc and ring are soarranged that the center of rotation of the chuck and a nose piecepositioned between the coadjacent spinning surfaces will be coaxialduring a spinning operation. A spinning tool according to the presentinvention has several advantages, among them being the 2,818,828Patented Jan. 7, 1958 ability to use larger bearings and the fact thatthe tool is substantially self-centering, permitting the stationary nosepiece to more readily adapt itself to the tool, thereby permitting thetool to apply uniform rolling pressure on diametrically opposite sidesof the nose piece. The coadj'acent convex and concave spinning surfacesalso provide an improved spinning action which facilitates spinning andgreatly reduces the number of improperly processed articles. Moreover,the spinning portions of the tool of the present invention are morereadily changed, adjusted and appear to have greater .life.

A tool answering the objects and having the advantages hereinabovereferred to is described in greater detail hereinafter. For purposesoffacilitating understanding, reference is had to the appended drawings,in which:

Fig. 1 is an axial section (certain parts being in side elevation) ofone form of tool made in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a bottom view showing the working face of the tool; and

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail of Fig. 1, showing the spinning contact ofthe tool with a writing tip.

As shown in these drawings, the tool itself comprises a chuck having arear face 11 provided with axially and rearwardly disposed means forconnecting the chuck to a suitable driving means, such as, for example,the threaded end of the shaft 12. The front or working face iseccentrically counterbored as indicated at 13 and a spinning disc 14 isrotatably mounted within the counterbore 13. The spinning disc 14 may beprovided with an elongated stem 15, suitable spaced bearings 16 and 16spaced by rings 17 being positioned in the bore 13 with a pressed fit soas to rotatably hold the spinning disc 14 and its pin shaft on an axisof rotation eccentric the axis of drive shaft 12.

The extending external cylindrical surface of the elongated pin shaft 15may be provided with a sleeve 18 having a face 20 adapted to receiveball bearings 21 and 21 and thereby mount an eccentric spinning ring 22having the upward flange 23, permitting the spinning ring and its flangeto freely rotate on an axis coincidental with the axis of the spinningdisc 14.

The working faces of both the spinning disc 14 and spinning ring 22 mayassume various contours. In the form illustrated, the working edges areeach provided with a rounded surface such as the surface 24 of thespinning disc 14, such rounded surface merging the downwardly facingconical surface 25 and the upwardly facing conical surface 26. Therounded surface 24 lies in a plane transverse to the axis of rotation ofthe disc 14; the angle of the lower face 25 to such transverse plane ispreferably smaller than the angle of the surface 26. For example, theangle of the surface 25 to such transverse plane may be on the order ofor l0%) whereas the angle of the conical face 26 to such transverseplane may be from to when the device is used for setting balls in thenose pieces of writing instruments.

The spinning ring 22 is preferably supplied with a similar roundedworking edge or surface 24' joining inclined lower and upper surfaces 25and 26'.

It will be evident that when the entire chuck is brought down against asubstantially stationary writing tip 30 provided with a nose piecehaving the external conical surface 31, a recess 32 in such nose pieceand a ball 33 seated therein, the rounded edges 24 and 24 of thespinning disc and spinning ring respectively will contact the exteriorsurface of the wall of the recess. Rotation of the entire chuck willpermit the spinning ring and the spinning disc to rotate and roll aroundthe surface of such nose piece, suitably working and sprin is ing themetal so as to provide a sufficient clearance to permit rotatability ofthe ball Within the recess. To provide a proper balance to the chuckduring such spinning operations, the chuck may additionally be providedwith a suitable counter weight 19, which may take the form shown.

The overall operation of the device may best be understood by referenceto Fig. 2. Remembering that the center of rotation of the chuck 10 iscoaxial with the nose piece 34), it will be apparent the Spinning disc14 may be rolled about the nose piece, in either direction, dependingupon the direction of rotation of the chuck. Assuming a clockwiserotation of the chuck, as indicated by the arrow 40, a slidingfrictional engagement between the nose piece and the spinning disc' willproduce clockwise rotation of the spinning disc relative to the nosepiece (directional arrow 42). In like fashion, a rolling frictionalengagement will occur between the nose piece 39 and the spinning ring 22again causing clockwise rotation, as indicated by the arrow 44, but at amuch slower rate due primarily to the variance in diameters of the discand ring and their eccentric position from the axis of rotation.Accordingly, a unique spinning action ensues in which the spinning discrotates clockwise adjacent the nose piece at a' relatively faster ratethan the spinning ring, thereby producing rotation of the disc relativeto the ring in a counterclockwise direction. The net effect is a muchmore rapid and uniform spinning action as the disc and ring roll andslide about the end walls of the nose piece.

It is to be noted that the working surface 24 of the ring presents aconcave working surface, in plan, which contacts an appreciably largersurface area of the wall of the nosepiece than the covex, smallerdiameter surface 24- of the spinning disc 14. It has been found that thelarger concave surface of the external spinning ring improves thespinning operation, expedites it and reduces the number of improperlyspun articles which are normally encountered in commercial production.Moreover, the sloping coadjacent surfaces, each curving to a pointcoaxial with the axis ofrotation permit the too-l to be substantiallyself centering on the nosepiece, thereby virtually eliminatingaparticular troublesome problem heretofore facing the art.

A description of the hydraulic or pneumatic means for raising orlowering the chuck into working position, rotating the chuck, holdingthe various nosepieces 30, a turret plate for bringing suchnosepiecesinto position, etc. is not deemed necessary, since those elements do notform an essential part of the present invention and are well known inthe art.

From the above description of an exemplary'device, it will be apparentthat the present invention provides for the first time a spinning toolthat is substantially selfcentering on the nosepiece of a ball penpoint, primarily as a result of alignment of concentric sloping concaveand convex surfaces of a spinning disc and ring with the centerof-rotation of the tool. In addition, the madjacent concave and convexspinning surfaces permit an unusually efficient working or spinning ofthe metal 4. serving to effectively free the ball for universal rotationin the point. Moreover, the spinning ring and disc may be mounted in thetool as a unit, facilitating replacement of the entire spinningattachment as needed for effective use of the tool.

To those skilled in the art. to which this invention relates, manychanges in construction and widely differing embodiments andapplications of the invention will suggest themselves without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the invention. The disclosures and thedescription herein are purely illustrative and are not intended to be inany sense limiting.

I claim:

1. A tool for spinning the wall of a recess formed in the nosepiece of awriting instrument to facilitate universal rotation of a ball thereincomprising: a chuck having axially and rearwardly disposed connectingmeans; an eccentrically disposed spinning disc-rotatably mounted in theface of said chuck; a spinning. ring rotatably mounted by the chuck andconcentrically surrounding the spinning disc, said spinning disc andsaid spinning,

ring being provided with spinning surfaces lying in a common planetransverse to the axis of rotation of the chuck, and 50 arranged in theface of the chuck that a center of rotation of the chuck and a nosepiecepositioned between said spinning surfaces Will be coaxial during aspinning operation, the spinning surface of the disc being convex andthat of the ring concave.

2. A tool of the character described in claim 1 wherein the spinningdisc and spinning ring are supported for rotation relative to oneanother by a single shaft rotatably mounted in the faceof said chuck.

3. A tool of the character described in claim 1 wherein said spinningsurfaces are provided with downwardly sloping portions adapting the toolto be substantially selfcentering on a nosepiece.

4. A tool for spinning the wall of a recess formed in the nose piece ofan element such as a writing instrument to facilitate universal rotationof a ball in said recess, comprising an eccentrically disposed spinningdisc rotatably mounted in the face of a rotatable chuck andconcentrically surrounded by a spinning ring mounted for rotation withrespect to the chuck, said spinning disc and spinning ring being soarranged in the face of the chuck that a nose piece positioned betweenthe spinning surfaces of said disc and ring will be coaxial with thecenter of rotation of the chuck during a spinning operation.

5. A tool of the character described in claim 4 wherein the spinningsurfaces are provided with portions sloping outwardly in the directionof entry of the nose piece so that the tool will be substantiallyself-centering On a nose piece during a spinning operation.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,498,009 Schrader et al Feb. 21, 1950 2,646,761 Knobel July 28, 19532,739,726 Bregen Mar. 27, 1956

